O letramento cartográfico: consciência e significado da aprendizagem no Ensino Médio

Abstract

The teaching of Geography in Basic Education is one of the fundamental pillars for fostering a critical and socially aware society. Therefore, it is essential to promote students' development in all its dimensions. The way Geography has been taught, together with the contemporary context, has resulted in students entering secondary education without the necessary skills to read and interpret cartographic representations, despite their increasing exposure to cartographic resources through mobile devices, television, and social media. Considering this scenario, and based on professional experience that has highlighted the lack of cartographic skills among students entering the first year of upper secondary education, this study aims to analyze the cartographic knowledge of students upon their admission to Dr. Laureno Alves de Melo State School, in Castanhal, Pará, Brazil, in order to develop a sequence of practical activities that fosters the effective process of cartographic literacy. To achieve this objective, the study specifically seeks to assess the level of students' cartographic knowledge upon entering upper secondary education, investigate their perceptions regarding the usefulness and importance of cartographic knowledge in their daily lives, and propose a structured sequence of activities to support the development of cartographic literacy. For the development and evaluation of this proposal, all planned activities were implemented with first-year upper secondary students from Dr. Laureno Alves de Melo State School, who actively participated in the proposed learning process. Based on the discussions and outcomes of this intervention, a didactic sequence was developed to organize fundamental cartographic concepts and provide practical teaching strategies aimed at promoting cartographic literacy among adolescents.